1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recognition apparatus and an image recognition method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As image recognition technology of taking a still image or a moving image and recognizing an object included in the taken image, an image matching method, a feature point method or the like is known. According to the image matching method, image data of an object to recognize is previously registered, and the registered image data and an object included in the taken image are compared. Thus, it is determined what is the object included in the taken image. According to the feature point method, shapes of objects are previously registered using feature points for each object, and the registered feature points and feature points of an object included in the taken image are compared. Thus, it is determined what is the object included in the taken image.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-208015 discloses technology in which in order to determine whether the outer shape of an object that is drawn in an image which is read from photographing is satisfactory, a circle characterizing the outer shape of the object is determined from the image that is read from taking the object. According to the technology, a search area is set within the outer shape of the object of the target image for searching for the center point of the circle. Then, from among the circles having the respective center points corresponding to the plural points included in the search zone, the circle satisfying the predetermined conditions is extracted as the circle characterizing the outer shape of the object.
However, according to the image matching method and the feature point method in the related art, it may be difficult to determine what is an object unless the entire shape of the target image is finely similar to the feature points of the registered image data. For example, in a case of recognizing a picture of an animal drawn by a child, it may be difficult to determine what is the drawn picture according to the image matching method and the feature point method in the related art since such a picture drawn by a child may be one that is somewhat deformed. Otherwise, an immense amount of time may be taken for searching a database or carrying out pattern matching to determine what is the drawn picture according to the image matching method and the feature point method in the related art. For example, according to the method of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-208015 of determining a circle characterizing the outer shape of an object from a taken image, it may be difficult to determine what is an object drawn which is somewhat deformed such as a picture drawn by a child.